The Story Behind "The Ferguson Hug"

This photo, of 12-year-old Devonte Hart hugging a Ferguson police officer at a protest in response to the shooting of Micheal Brown, was labeled by the photographer (his adoptive mother) as "The Ferguson Hug" or "The hug heard around the world". This photo has gone viral both nationally and internationally.
Devonte's story begins with a mother addicted to cocaine, which leads him to be placed into the system along with his three siblings. A family of two white women- Sarah and Jen Hart, who had previously adopted a sibling set of three (also African-American), adopted Devonte and his brother and sister. However, life did not get easier for the now 6 Hart children. Abuse was a huge problem in the Hart family. One of the young children in the house was beaten with a belt and called the police, but the case was closed. Then, 6-year-old Abigail told her teacher that "Mom hit me", and she was covered with bruises. The Mom's confessed to spanking her, holding her head underwater, and leaving the bruises- all over a single penny they found in her pocket. The children also kept telling teachers that they weren't being fed- and still, there were no punishments for the two moms. In fact, the school stopped even reporting the childrens reports as they didn't want the kids to face the spanking/punishments from their parents. When CPS checked in with the children, they all gave identical stories and did not mention their previous reports of abuse. The children had previously been diagnosed with a variety of special needs, but their adoptive mothers believed they did not need them and did not give them their medications. The social worker did make a comment saying that it seemed Sarah went along with whatever Jen said and that Sarah seemed to like posing the children for photographs but was cold to them otherwise.

As for the picture: Jen described the interaction as Devonte crying and holding a "Free Hugs" sign, and a police officer approached and asked why he was at the protest, and he said because he was concerned about the police brutality against black teens, and the officer responded with a hug and saying, "Sorry, Sorry, I know." However, the officer says that the interaction went a little differently. He asked Devonte, "Do you know what's going on?" and he said "A protest." The officer said he asked, "is it good or bad?" And Devonte did not respond. The officer also mentioned he believed Devonte was special needs. Another photographer at the event claimed he noticed Jen seeming to "coach" or tell Devonte what to do, before leading him to the front of the protest. A crowd was forming that his point and the photographer said it seemed like "That child was in trauma." Another photographer at the event added that Devonte had been crying during talking with his mother and he seemed terrified, and was not "moved to tears" like his mother tried to convey on Facebook.

Over the next few months, abuse reports rolled in- the oldest daughter, Hannah, told neighbors that her moms were racists and beat her and her siblings. Devonte would regularly beg his neighbors for food, as his moms withheld food from him as a punishment. On March 26th, 2018 one of  Sarahs friends called 911- she was sick and went to the hospital. But no hospital in the area had a report of Sarah checking in.  Later that day, Jen Hart pulled over to the side of the California Highway, and drove her entire family over a cliff in, after driving them all from two states over, Oregon. Her blood alcohol content was .102. Sarah and two of the children had been drugged with Benadryl.

This story is more connected to Ferguson than just the picture Devonte was convinced to pose for. Micheal Brown was shot by a white police officer, and the state of Missouri allowed him to go free. The state of Oregon ignored numerous reports of abuse for years at the hands of two white women, which eventually lead to the murder of 6 black children. The system failed both these children. Devonte and his siblings were taken from his mother due to alleged abuse and her cocaine addiction. Why can abuse at the hands of a black woman be punished with taking her children, while abuse by white women is ignored?